Kinnaird West 000-12c Port Orford Cedar & Koa

[colins]

I’ve just reread the thread. What a feast of beautiful wood, craftsmanship, creativity and good times. All the elements of a great guitar.

Thanks for sharing with us, and keep those fantastic images coming!

[Steve Kinnaird]

Originally Posted by Joel Teel

Guys…this is an absolutely beautiful guitar!!! When I see wood like this, it humbles me and reminds me that I exist in the beauty of the greatest artist of all…..and that my work is merely the shadow cast from standing in His light.

Steve…it resonated with me when you told John that you are, “still trying to make Dad proud.” ❤️

-joel

Thank you Joel, much appreciated! I look forward to seeing you again in, oh…a week?!

Originally Posted by colins

I’ve just reread the thread. What a feast of beautiful wood, craftsmanship, creativity and good times. All the elements of a great guitar.

Thanks for sharing with us, and keep those fantastic images coming!

Thank you too, Colin! I think you are correct, there are a number of factors that contribute to a successful instrument, one being “good times” as you state. John is a real help in that way. He keeps us smiling (with his unfailing good humor) on a regular basis.

Steve

[BlackKeys36]

Guitar is back from finish and in final assembly this week. I decided to have the neck finished in gloss because it is figured koa. Counting down the hours til I get to play it for the first time:

[j. Kinnaird]

Beautiful work guys. That sound port is inspired.

[BrunoBlack]

That is drop dead gorgeous! —— BTW, every time is see “ Kinnaird West”, I think I’m going to see a message from Kanye.

[Guitars44me]

Drop Dead Beautiful!

Way to go!!!

It will be singing soon

Paul

[Nemoman]

Wow--that looks amazing!!!

[Jamiejoon]

That is exceptionally beautiful. Love that Port Orford!

[Carpinteria]

I am pretty much speechless about this guitar: design, woods, and workmanship are all off the charts. This is beautiful. Dave

[BlackKeys36]

Just received a couple of teasers from Nacogdoches!

Rumor has it that it was so loud when Ryan was stringing it up that he had to use the pictured hearing protection...

[vpolineni]

When I saw the body last Friday I told Ryan "yeah, that will play." Congrats on a stunning guitar John! The body size/shape looks perfect in the picture of Steve playing it.

[nootis]

Looking incredible! That sound port came out lovely too.

[BEJ]

Wow, looking at that back for more than a few minutes might be more dangerous than looking at "Stupefyin'Jones" from Li'l Abner, might freeze you in your tracks.

[Jamiejoon]

Steve, now that you have more experience with Port Orford, can you make any more confident statements about its qualities as a tonewood?

[Steve Kinnaird]

Many thanks guys for the very kind remarks!
(But nary a word from Kanye. Oh well…)

Originally Posted by Jamiejoon

Steve, now that you have more experience with Port Orford, can you make any more confident statements about its qualities as a tonewood?

Jamie, sure. In fact, I can make confident statements about species we’ve never worked with.
Silliness aside, my growing impressions of POCedar: it skates quite closely up to Sitka spruce. As you know, it is stiffer on average than spruce, which works well for guitar purposes. You have all the strength you need to bear up under string loads. It offers a warmth more reminiscent of Redwood than Western Red Cedar. I.e., there was a crispness to the warmth, not a fuzziness. Also, like Redwood, there is a more immediate response in terms of the “break-in” period.
As for opening up, we’ll see. My 3rd guitar was topped with POCedar, many moons ago, but I have not had the chance to revisit that guitar. I did hear that recording of the Osage/POCedar guitar built for you which sounded magical, in a relatively short time.
As a not-unimportant side benefit, it smells heavenly. I’ve asked Ryan to build my coffin out of POCedar